Almost there...

[jdotmi]

So. I'm almost done with Final Fantasy XIII. Well, correction. I've almost beaten the game, but that doesn't really translate to "almost done" the way this game is set up. Either way, I have all of my part members, all of my Eidolons, and am more or less bee-lining for the "final" battle. I took a small sidequest detour, but decided to come back to that later as some battles were ticking me off.

The game is a lot of fun. I wasn't sold on the battle system at first, but it's a lot more complicated than it initially seems. Some serious strategy goes into it.

One of the big complaints people seem to have is that the game is very linear. You can't backtrack, you can't explore (until a certain point), and there aren't any towns you can go talk to people in. Really, this all makes sense in the storyline. All things considered, going backwards in this game wouldn't make any sense in the storyline. I mean, not to spoil the first hour or two of the game or anything other than the fact I totally am right now, you start out being deported for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and anyone you come in contact with will have the same fate, and then it goes downhill from there so that you're actually running AWAY from the crap that is chasing you.

Yeah, going back? Probably not such a hot idea.

Now, a more valid complaint is that the game takes it's time explaining just what the hell is going on. It's a good 15 hours before you have a pretty good handle on why the main characters are in the situation they're in, and it's probably another 5 to 10 before you REALLY have it figured out. And then the plot twists start coming in a mile a minute.

So, yeah, that's been my week and last weekend. :-p

Comments

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

Sounds less linear than FFX, which is my favorite game in the series :) Of course, I hate completely non-linear sandbox-type RPGs. I want a plot not a series of vignettes that kinda sorta form a plot...in a way. ;)

How does the battle system compare to previous FF's? I think part of why I didn't get sucked in to FFXII was that I didn't care for the whole act-in-real-time-but-set-up-AI combat. I always felt too frantic. I preferred the older menu-driven, turn-based combat of the old ones.

Long Comment is Long

[jdotmi.livejournal.com]

The combat uses a variation on the ATB system that is similar to XII, but with far less setup. Your characters have access to six "Roles" that determine what abilities they have access to and your setup consists of telling them what roles they are using in battle. The roles are Ravager (magic attack), Commando (physical attack), Sentinel (tank), Synergist (buffer), Saboteur (debuffer), and Medic (medic, heh).

You can change roles on the fly in battle by swapping Paradigms (pre-baked combinations of the 6 different roles, in combinatiosn of 2 or 3 depending on who is in your active party), much like changing Dresspheres in X-2, but on a whole-party basis. You get to put 6 Paradigms in the deck and can modify them anytime you're not in combat.

You also set up strings of attacks/abilities instead of doing one at a time. And there's an "Auto" field that picks the best combinations for you (usually). You actually learn about enemies as you fight them and what you learn you use. Once you learn a Flan is weak against fire, all of your Ravagers start throwing fireballs in it's face.

You start out entering two commands at a time, then a story event opens up a third ATB slot. When you gain an Eidolon you open up another ATB slot. And then there are unlockable ATB slots as well that you purchase as you level up. Because of how this is set up, they eliminated Magic Points from the game. The ATB bar determines how many abilities you can use, and some abilities take up multiple segments. The Ultimate abilities use the entire bar. You can pre-enter abilities and they'll go off when the guage fills up, or you can interrupt it to force abilities to go off, but only those that have fully charged will happen. The remaining bar carries over to your next turn

Re: Long Comment is Long

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

That really does sound ridiculously complicated. *g* It certainly doesn't make me regret that I don't have a PS3 or an Xbox and can't play the game anyway. ;)

[mrpolyonymous.livejournal.com]

Sounds like we've had pretty much the same reaction to the game. I'm still a long way from done, but for the first several hours of the game I was pretty neutral towards it and didn't feel compelled to play for long stretches. After about 6 hours or so the battle system grew on me, and now that it's opened up, I'm becoming kind of obsessed. I foresee not getting much useful stuff done this weekend :)

Re: Long Comment is Long

[jdotmi.livejournal.com]

I like having to think. FFVI and VII eventually bore me to tears because, really, chaincasting Ultima or Mimicing Knights of the Round forever isn't challenging. Granted, in this case it's more of thinking "What role do I need to be to survive this" and hit that role and let auto-attack do it's thing. The trick is you do have to change sometimes to get the job done. And that's where the fun is.

[jdotmi.livejournal.com]

I think that if I try to monopolize the TV for a second weekend in a row, my partner may revolt on me, so I'm gonna have to cut back a bit this weekend. Heh.

Re: Long Comment is Long

[tygerversionx.livejournal.com]

It's different than the battle systems from previous games, but it does really get cool once you get into the groove of it.

And I changed it so that my main character doesn't auto-attack with the best spells. I at least micromanage the character I'm controlling. So there are several ways to play it.